Abstract

The fear-avoidance model (FAM) was developed in an attempt to explain the process by which the “pain experience” and “pain behaviour” becomes dissociated from the actual “pain sensation” in individuals who manifest the phenomenon of exaggerated pain perception. High levels of fear-avoidance can lead to chronic pain and disability. Existing fear-avoidance questionnaires have all been developed for the general population. These questionnaires may not be specific enough to fully assess fear-avoidance in an athletic population which copes with pain differently than the general population. The aim of our study was to develop the Athletic Fear Avoidance Questionnaire (AFAQ) and validate it.
A total of 9 experts in the fields of athletic therapy, sport psychology and fear-avoidance were used to generate and rate items for the AFAQ. The final version of the questionnaire includes 10 items who reached statistical significance (p<0.05) to establish good internal validity.
Ninety-nine varsity athletes filled out the AFAQ along with the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) and the Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS). Concurrent validity was established with significant correlations between the AFAQ and the FABQ-PA (r= 0.352, p = 0.000) as well as with the PCS (r = 0.587, p = 0.000). High internal consistency of our questionnaire was established with a Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of 0.805.
Therefore, our results indicate that we developed a questionnaire with good internal and external validity. The AFAQ is a scale that measures sports injury-related fear-avoidance in athletes and could be used to identify potential negative psychological barrier to rehabilitation.